About the Course

Crafting the Essay

This immersive and collaborative course will introduce you to great essayists including Annie Dillard, Charles Simic, and Richard Rodriguez, and help you find your own distinctive narrative voice. You and your classmates will read, analyze, and discuss works of creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, and then experiment with tone and mood, imagery, prose, and a variety of structures and narrative devices while learning how to effectively use figurative language to create your own moving and engaging personal stories. Through daily readings, informal writing assignments, editing workshops, and major writing projects, you will gain an understanding of the patterns and techniques of successful authors, and develop your own strengths as a writer. You will leave the course with strong critical reading and writing skills that you will continue to use through high school, college, and beyond.

Typical Class Size: 16-18
 

Course Overview

This course is

ungraded.

Summer Dates & Locations

Registration deadline:

After May 9, 2025, registration is available upon request pending eligibility and seat availability. To request placement, email [email protected] after submitting a program application.

Session One

Image of Dickinson College
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
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Residential cost: $7,259
Commuter cost: $6,459
Image of Roger Williams University
Bristol, Rhode Island
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Residential cost: $7,259
Commuter cost: $6,459
Image of the University of California Santa Cruz campus
Santa Cruz, California
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Residential cost: $7,501
Commuter cost: $6,701
image of the Skidmore College campus
Saratoga Springs, New York
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Residential cost: $7,259
Commuter cost: $6,459

Session Two

Image of Roger Williams University
Bristol, Rhode Island
-
Residential cost: $7,259
Commuter cost: $6,459
image of the Loyola Marymount University campus
Los Angeles, California
-
Residential cost: $7,501
Commuter cost: $6,701

Testing and Prerequisites

  Math Verbal
Required Level Not required CTY-Level
Check your eligibility using existing test scores If you do not have existing test scores:

Students must achieve qualifying scores on an advanced assessment to be eligible for CTY programs. If you don’t have qualifying scores, you have several different testing options. We’ll help you find the right option for your situation.

Sign up for Testing Learn More

Cost and Financial Aid

  • Tuition
    • Varies
  • Application fee
    • Nonrefundable Application Fee - $55 (Waived for financial aid applicants)
    • Nonrefundable International Fee - $250 (outside US only)

Financial Aid is available
We are committed to serving all talented youth regardless of financial circumstances. Financial assistance is available based on need.

Learn More

Course Materials

Students should bring basic school supplies like pens, notebooks, and folders to their summer program. You will be notified of any additional items needed before the course begins. All other materials will be provided by CTY.
 

Sample Reading

These titles have been featured in past sessions of the course, and may be included this summer. CTY provides students with all texts; no purchase is required.

  • Back to the Lake: A Reader for Writers, Thomas Cooley

Technical Requirements

Students must bring a tablet with a keyboard, laptop computer, or Chromebook for use during the session. A smartphone will not be sufficient.

About Language Arts at CTY

Explore storytelling

Want to have fun reading popular stories and writing your own tales of adventure? Pen your hero's journey and explore a diverse range of books in Behind the Mask: Superheroes Revealed, or have fun shaping your prose and experimenting with different formats and styles in Fiction and Poetry.

Find your voice

Take your writing to the next level! In Writing and Imagination, you can build your vocabulary and gain the tools to write your own creative fiction. You'll learn to craft compelling narratives about your own experiences in Crafting the Essay, and have fun learning new literary devices and figurative language in Writing Your World.

Meet our instructors and staff